Seven Strategic Steps HR Can Take to Drive Company Innovation and Profitable Growth!

by Victor Assad

In the free HR webinar I presented, I discuss ways to prepare an organization for innovation. Human Resources can make significant contributions toward improving a company’s innovation, especially with mature or fast-growth post start-up companies. Human Resources can engineer the organization’s talent management and culture so that it is more innovative, while also maintaining the excellence and reliability of its current operations. They all are needed to drive today’s profitability.

We hear a lot in the innovation press about developing new technology and applying it to current applications and new business models. We also hear about mature firms acquiring new technology firms to drive innovation. These are all solid business strategies, but their failure rate is often above 70%.[i] The failure rate for start-ups is widely regarded as 90%.

Some of this is inherent in the nature of innovation. It often takes 100 trials of a new technology or product before it is ready for commercialization. That includes a lot of failure and learning before the innovation is ready for prime time. There are a couple of things you can bet on. One is that the status quo is a failing business strategy. Second, if a company does not have the right talent management practices and a strong culture of innovation, their probability of success diminishes precipitously.

For decades, empirical research has shown that strong organizational cultures of innovation[ii] and strong talent management practices lead to higher profits.[iii] The research has also shown that strong cultures of innovation lead to higher employee commitment to company mission and levels of discretionary effort on the job. Click here to continue reading.

Click here to view our free HR webinar recording on six mistakes companies make while innovating and by viewing this recording you can earn free HRCI & SHRM credits.